Find My Way Home
by Corselli
Summary: 3 years after Al and Ed closed the portal on their side of the Gate, Al and Ed might just rediscover three things: Alchemy, The Gate, and Their Home.  A 3 Shot Story
1. Rediscovering Alchemy

Sweat crawled down the boy's forehead. He brought his arm up and wiped it away, not willing to let it go down any further. It's tickling was distracting him from his work. Finally, he sighed and leaned back into the chair. He wasn't getting anywhere with this.

Alfonse Elric stared at the circles and calculations on the paper in front of him. After spending a year in this new world, he and his brother had been trying to find ways to help prevent the imminent war. It was bound to be bigger and far more dangerous, spreading across this continent like a plague. Al knew that this war would force every able-bodied boy into the war, and he and Edward did not want to be apart of the fighting.

But that wasn't what he was working on at the moment. Ed may have become content and happy in this other world, but Al was curious. When Ed had explained the events preceding what had happened last year when they had finally been reunited, Al was confused. Ed said that this world didn't allow for people to perform alchemy. So how had Ed activated the circle the first time?

The second time Al figured had to do with the fact that he had opened a portal on their side, or that their father's death had something to do with it. But Al wanted to know.

Was there a way to do alchemy here?

They had eventually figured out how to destroy the original portal. It was surprisingly simple. Al and Ed had blown up some of the supporting structures around it, which forced Envy's body to pull away and come away from the circle, causing it to lose its foundation. It had deteriorated away quickly, and because of all the energy that was suddenly stopped, Envy also been destroyed. His body was slowly deteriorating in that place that they had left.

Al pulled his attention back to his notes. Edward didn't know that Al was researching alchemy, which was why Al only worked on it when Ed was at work. Ed worked with the Germans to try to ensure equality in their social system along with Noah. Al worked at the flower shop down the street with Gracie, especially working overtime in the recent months during her last term of pregnancy.

Shaking his head clear, Al gets up and walks to the kitchen. He grabbed a piece of chalk and began to draw a simple transmutation circle on the table. Al looks at it and nods. Clapping his hands together, he slammed his hands down and-

"Al, I'm home!"

Al looks up quickly, "Oh-, uh, I thought you weren't supposed to back until later, Ed." Al glances down at the table. Nothing had happened.

Ed walked into the room with a big grin on his face. "Yeah, things were going really well, so we got done early…" He trailed off when he saw what Al was doing.

"Uh," Al stuttered, "I can explain. Really, I can."

"Al…" Ed looked at the transmutation circle on the table. "What were you trying to do? You know that we can't perform alchemy here. It's impossible."

"Then how did you do it a year ago with the Gate?" Al asked him.

Gold eyes met gold eyes with surprise. "I… I don't know. I never really thought about it…" Ed admitted. "After I got you back… I don't really care either."

"Yes you do, brother," Al accused him. "I know you. You couldn't get rid of alchemy if you tried. It's in our blood…. Besides, I know you've done it here in this world. You activated that circle once, and father did it the second time. I've been trying to figure out how you did it and what was different."

Ed frowned. "I don't know what was different. But I know that both times alchemy was used on this side of the Gate that Envy was involved. And we both know that he died after we destroyed the Gate. It's not going to work…"

"But…" Al denied, "I don't think it has to do with him! At least, he wasn't the one who activated the Gate- you were. And you said that the Gate didn't activate until Dad killed himself and the blood—" Al stopped talking, his eyes widening with his epiphany.

"Al?" Ed questioned, "What is it Al? What about Dad and—"

"What did you do before you activated the array?"

Ed looked at Alfonse with surprise. "I don't know… it's been 3 years, Al, how would I know?"

Al shook his head. "I know you, Ed. You know—what did you do?"

Ed glared at his brother. Why was he being so persistent? Why couldn't he accept that they were stuck without alchemy for good? He stubbornly said, "Fine. I had finished redrawing the array. If I remember correctly, I wiped my cheek and touched the array. That's when it activated."

Al looked down thoughtfully at the array on the table. He asked, "Was there anything on your gloves when you touched the array? Sweat? Or… blood?"

"I don't know… I know I had cut my cheek, I think… Wait, do you mean?"

Al met Ed's questioning eyes with his own determined and confident gaze. "It's blood. That's how alchemy works here!"

Ed's eyes widened at the discovery. "Wait… Hohenheim told me, the first time that I had come here, that the human deaths here are the fuel for the alchemic energy on our side of the Gate. It makes sense that it would take our own energy for it work here!"

Al grinned excitedly. "It's really is possible! We can do it here!"

Ed matched Al's grin. "One way to find out, eh?" He took off his left glove and bit his thumb. His teeth broke the skin, and blood welled up to the surface.

And he slammed the barely-bloodied hand down onto the transmutation circle.

A flash of light briefly blinded the brothers.

When it disappeared, a small wooden horse stood on the table.

The Elric Brothers had rediscovered their Alchemy.

**Chapter 1 of 3.**

**Word Count: 1021 words**

**Author's Note:**

**This is a three-chapter story that I am doing a quick write up of. I have been… somewhat unsatisfied with some of the FMA stories that I have read (not all, just some), especially with how some of them have worked. This story is simply a return home story for the boys, and I really could just end it here. But I have two more chapters planned out that I hope to write up soon. **

**This is my first FMA story, and I've only been apart of the fandom for around 2 weeks (blame my brother for getting me hooked on the series- I watched the original anime series in roughly 24 hours. I just couldn't help myself!) I hope I did a good job of keeping them in character, although I admit that Ed seems to be a bit out of it to me. But I like the idea of Al being persistent in the pursuit of Alchemy.**

**Now, for my disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist, Edward (Ed) Elric, or Alphonse (Al) Elric.**


	2. Rediscovering the Gate

It was dead of night. Two quiet figures walked in the shadows of the abandoned section of the university. Taking out a piece of chalk, the shorter of the two drew a circle onto a wall, adding small details around it. Then he bit his thumb, drawing blood, and pressed his hand to the wall.

A blue light hid the morphing section of wall, creating an arch to allow the two to get into the building without any problems. Another flash of blue light appeared and the arch was gone and the wall was back as it was.

Inside, the two walked calmly down into hidden depths of the building. They had been there 5 years earlier when they had been reunited, and now they were planning on their return to their own world.

The Elric brothers were finally going home.

Edward took the lead and made his way through the catacomb-like maze of a building, Alphonse following closely behind his brother. Soon they found themselves in the bottom of a circular pit, the remains of the destructive forces scattered about randomly. After 5 years of disuse wood had begun to rot and the iron beams were showing early signs of rusting. Knowing what they would need to do, the brothers got to work quickly to clean up the area.

Al walked up to a piece of wood and drew a small transmutation circle. Using a similar technique as his brother did earlier, Al bit through the skin on his thumb and pressed on the circle. Blue light filled the air. The life force in the blood was enough to power the alchemic reactions. In seconds the wood looked brand new, having been restored by the elements in the air.

Turning to Edward, Alphonse asked, "How are you doing over there, brother?"

A flash of blue appeared briefly. When it was gone, Edward pulled his hand away from the restored iron rods.

"I'm becoming more and more thankful that you are so goddamn persistent, Al. Without you, I would still be thinking that alchemy would be useless to attempt." Ed admitted.

"Heh, you probably would have figured it out eventually." Al told him. "You had been living without alchemy for longer than I had and you were more adjusted to functioning without it. I just… I don't think I would really be able to live without it, to be honest."

Shrugging his shoulders, Ed told him, "Maybe so."

"Come on, _Fullmetal_," Al teased, using Ed's old moniker teasingly. "Let's get this done with. I want to get home."

"Alright, _Blood Seal_." Ed rolled his eyes and Al smiled. After their rediscovery of alchemy, Ed had decided that Al was deserving of an 'alchemist name', despite the fact that they were titles given to State Alchemists. Al's proficiency with his use of blood seals before he came this world and the fact that he was the one who discovered the use of blood as a power source inspired the name. Al was the one who chose the name, despite the Ed's initial protests.

He didn't want to be reminded that he had used a _blood seal_ to attach his brother's soul to a suit of armor. Al had lived that way for four years.

After a couple of hours of cleaning, they briefly turned their attention to where Envy's dead body was decaying. It hadn't deteriorated like the other homunculus, but they suspected it had to do with the fact they were in another world. It was just as well; otherwise they wouldn't be able to open the gate in the first place. After securing the carcass in place, the Elric brothers turned their attention to other needs.

Soon the sun started to shine into the arena-like pit, the two stood in the middle appreciating the long night's work.

"It's too bad that alchemy takes so much more work here." Al commented.

Ed shrugged. "It's probably why it became a dead practice. It takes a lot more energy than it would on our side of the gate. The energy is coming from our blood and from the natural energy around us."

Al smiled as the brothers went to collect the rocket that they had brought down during the night. It taken well over an hour for them to bring it down the different parts and re-assemble them, but it the task wasn't hard. They didn't use alchemy because they were trying to conserve their energy.

When they had set up the two-person rocket so that it was angled to aim directly into the area where the portal was set up, the two started their next task: completing the transmutation circle. Of course, for two boy genii of alchemy this was a fairly simple task. Ed had redrawn the circle on a smaller scale for them to study a while ago, and it was then that they had made a rather important discovery.

_They had been making plans to return to Amestris for a month now when Ed redrew the transmutation circle that could get them there. He sat at their kitchen table, silently studying the circle when a thought hit him._

"_Hey, the portal on the other side has been closed, right?" Al looked up at Ed from across the room. "Before, the soldiers didn't survive. We won't be able to get through." _

_Al looked down sheepishly, quickly finding his twiddling thumbs more appealing to watch than his brother's questioning eyes. Too bad he could still feel the piercing golden eyes gaze. "Well… I kind of lied to you… I didn't exactly tell Mustang to close the portal..."_

"_WHAT? But what if-"_

"_Take it easy brother!" Al interrupted. "No one here will discover the connection again. Remember, this place will be destroyed once we enter the portal, so no one will be able to follow us through. And we destroyed that cult's original research, remember? So they won't be able to reconstruct the portal. It will be dead, once and for all. . Once we're through Envy's body will be destroyed as well. Without a humonculus, it is impossible to open the Gate. That's why I put those transmutation circles up there. They will activate once we leave this world."_

_Ed rubbed his forehead. It was nice to be with his brother, but his ability to be able to know exactly what Ed was thinking at times was uncanny. "Ugh… I just wish you had told me. I would have been okay with knowing this after all. I just want to be careful." He told Al._

_His brother nodded in understanding. He said, "I know, but we've already taken care of that Uranium bomb here. We promised to take care of that before we would try this. What do we have left to do here in this world? I think that it's worth it to try and get back." Al paused before adding, "Even if it means risking death to see our friends again."_

_Ed nodded solemnly in agreement._

_Al frowned. "I did tell Mustang to keep watch over the portal… so it is easily possible that it's been closed. We don't know if the portal is still open on that side…"_

_With a grin Ed said, "I guess we'll just have to reconfigure this circle then. If we are working on the assumption that we're going to have to open up one side and punch through the other."_

"_Yeah," Al said. "We might be able to make it so that we would be able to pass through easily though… kind of like when you came through the first time."_

"_You mean to the other Ed's body?" Ed asked warily._

_Al shook his head. "No, I mean like when you first came here to stay, in your own. You obviously survived the trip, so it must mean that there is a way to pass through without the same consequences. Maybe something that could explain how Envy got here in the first place."_

"_That's true," Ed nodded. "A different type of exchange. I wonder what it would take though? And what makes it different?"_

_They sat in silence. Both trying to understand and reason what could be the equiv-_

"_Willingness."_

_Al looked at Ed in confusion. "What? What do you mean?"_

_Ed frowned slightly. "It isn't the right word to describe what I mean. But think about it—when I first came here in and possessed the other Ed, I had actually died, right? I didn't really want to come here. But the second time, I was willing to sacrifice everything to get across if it meant that you would be back. I __**wanted**__ it bad enough to get across… apparently. At least, well, do you get what I'm trying to say?"_

_Al processed what he was being told. "I think so… and then, when Envy came over he must have wanted it bad enough as well. He knew that father was on this side, so he was willing to give up everything so he could get over here to kill him!" _

"_Well, something like that. I don't know about Father… how did he get over here?" Al asked his brother._

_Ed shrugged. "It's not like I understand the man. Look, I might not be angry with Hohenheim anymore, I don't know how he thinks, and I'm not going try to."_

_Al dropped the subject, knowing that discussing the subject with Ed was useless. And it was true—neither of them knew what could have motivated Hohenheim's actions or what could have caused him to get to this side of the gate._

They never did find out why Hohenheim made it to this side of the gate, but boys did discover that they would not need to worry about the portal on the other side being open or not. Ed reconfigured the transmutation array, adding in symbols that would tell it to create a tunnel that went all the way through the gate to the other side. They would still need enough energy and power to get all the way through, but that was what the rocket was for.

That, and they were sure that it would allow them to escape the creatures that they had dubbed 'the Children of the Gate'.

It didn't take long for them to complete the revised transmutation circle. After a quick double check—one from each brother—Edward and Alphonse stood next to the edge of the circle.

Two golden eyes met each other. Two nods. Two bites—and broken skin. Two drops of blood.

A flash of blue-gold light. The carcass glowed vibrantly. The portal appeared.

An engine started up. A beam broke from the pressure of the portal. The two-person rocket took off. The portal shuttered.

And they disappeared into a radiant light just before it shimmered out of existence and the building collapsed in destruction.

**Chapter 2 of 3.**

**Word Count: 1830 words**

**Total Word Count: 2851 words**

**Author's Note:**

**It seems that as I'm writing this, the chapter seemed to get away from me. The third and final chapter is going to be a whole lot longer than this one, that's for sure. They're going to have to handle the changes that Amestris has gone through, after all! That, and the wrath of Winry, hehehe…**

**As I said before, I hope I did a good job of keeping them in character, although I feel like I might of redeemed Ed from any injustice that I may have done to him in his portrayal in the first chapter. But, looking at how I've written it, I feel like they seemed to have switched roles/attitudes. Al is willing to take more risks and Ed is more cautious, but if you've seen the end the **_**Conquerors of Shambala**_**, then I think that you would probably agree with me that Ed did seem to be a lot more wary/cautious and Al was willing to take more risks (He did, after all open that gate, when Ed wasn't going to on the other side). They did spend time apart from each other and learned different things and grew up differently, after all.**

**I must let you know that the last installment of this 3-part chapter will probably be excessively long. I wouldn't expect it to come out anytime soon, if I were you. I'm expecting it to at least be as long as each of these last two chapters combined because I have a lot of stuff I want to cover for them to have to get through. I was considering having it be 4 chapters, but I distinctly want this to be a 3-part story about them Rediscovering (nearly) everything they have held dear: Alchemy, a way home (via the Gate, which is not really something dear to them), and Amestris' itself. **

**Now, for my disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist, Edward (Ed) Elric, or Alphonse (Al) Elric.**

**(I do own the moniker **_**Blood Seal **_**that I gave Alphonse, however! Please don't steal it from me! However, you may ask permission to use it if you would like to.)**


End file.
